U.S. detects highly lethal bird flu at Kentucky chicken farm

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A commercial chicken flock in Kentucky with 240,000 birds tested positive for a highly lethal form of avian flu, officials said on Monday, widening an outbreak that threatens the U.S. poultry industry.

Infections in the chickens being raised for meat will likely trigger more restrictions on U.S. poultry exports, after buyers like China and Korea limited purchases from Indiana last week due to an outbreak at a commercial turkey farm there.

The broiler chickens in Fulton County, Kentucky, located near the border with Tennessee, were infected with the same H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian flu as the turkeys in Indiana, Kentucky officials said.

They said it is Kentucky's first-ever outbreak of the highly lethal bird flu, which killed more than 50 million U.S. chickens and turkeys in 2015.

Officials expect final test results on Tuesday for another suspected outbreak among turkeys in Webster County, Kentucky.

Birds from infected flocks will be culled to prevent the disease from spreading and will not enter the food system, state officials said. Authorities are testing commercial and backyard poultry flocks nearby in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The disease was also detected in a backyard flock of birds in Fauquier County, Virginia, that have already been culled, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The cases do not present an immediate public health concern, the agency said.

Wild birds are thought to be spreading the virus, after dozens tested positive along the U.S. East Coast.

The United States is the world's largest producer and second-largest exporter of poultry meat, according to the U.S. government. Kentucky said it is the seventh biggest chicken-meat producing state. Almost 18% of U.S. poultry production is exported, and the industry is a major user of feed grains.

The disease is hitting the market as poultry supplies are down due to strong demand and labor shortages at meat plants during to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government data showed U.S. frozen chicken supplies were down 14% from a year ago at the end of December while turkey inventories were down 23%.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Aurora Ellis and David Gregorio)